Charlene Hill Fadirepo, MBA

Peace and Blessings All,

I am Charlene Fadirepo --and welcome to the $martChoiceMoms community! I am glad you stopped by. Come on in, have a seat, stay for while --and get $mart about money --with us.

Seems like a good idea to share how I got here now. So here goes. As a veteran in the financial literacy space, I have been teaching financial literacy classes for children and adults for nearly 15 years now. I think I have always had an inkling that it was something that I passionate about. But it wasn't until I had my first son, Ayo, that the inkling turned into "fire in your belly" passion! There is something about having a child, that totally transforms your thinking! Aside from the fact that I just didn't have time to be self-centered anymore--- I realized that I didn't even care about focusing on my own wants and needs. Everything that I wanted to do going forward was for the benefit of my son. And I wanted to be able to teach him the wonderful and practical money and life lessons that I learned as a child from my very money saavy parents. And I also wanted other parents to be able to teach these lessons to their kids too. It is my hope that my son to grows up to be financially independent, debt free, and socially responsible --so that he has the peace of mind, body, and spirit to change the world!

In 2013, while on maternity leave with Ayo, ( between breast feeding, pumping, changing poopy diapers, and getting zero sleep), I launched the $martChoiceNation.com, a financial literacy social enterprise firm committed to building a nation of youth well equipped to make smart money choices. During this time period, I started to lay the ground work for my money management children's book, Ayo's Money Jar. And finally, shortly there after I started working on $martChoiceMoms.com, this online community that celebrates financially empowered parenthood, based on my passion to empower parents — especially mothers — to take control of their financial lives.

I live in Washington, DC with my husband and my adorable 3 year old son. In my spare time, I also serve as the President of Greater Washington Jump$tart - a coalition of public, non-profit and private organizations that are committed to financial education for children. Find out more about Jump$tart here.

Please note -this blog represents my personal views on financial issues and it is meant to be used for informational purposes only. Find me on LinkedIn here.

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